2023 · UI/UX Design
Let's Cook
An intelligent cooking companion that takes you from grocery list to plated meal — one smart, gentle step at a time.
2023 · UI/UX Design
An intelligent cooking companion that takes you from grocery list to plated meal — one smart, gentle step at a time.
Overview
Let's Cook started from a simple frustration — recipe apps show you what to make, but rarely help you actually make it. The experience gaps happen in the in-between moments: at the grocery store, at the cutting board, while the pan is already hot.
We set out to design an end-to-end cooking companion, one that stays useful from the moment a recipe is chosen to the moment the dish is on the plate.
The Challenge
Cooking is messy — literally. Traditional mobile interaction patterns assume dry hands, full attention, and no time pressure. None of that is true when you're three minutes into frying a stir-fry.
The challenge was to design flows that stay legible from across a counter, respond to large touch targets, and gracefully degrade when the user can't look away from the pan.
Process
I broke the experience into three stages — Shop, Prep, Cook — and designed a system that could carry a single recipe through all of them. Shopping uses integrated store maps and aisle routing; prep uses clear ingredient checklists; cook uses an intelligent timer that adapts to the recipe rather than the user.
Every screen was prototyped with high-fidelity interactions in ProtoPie and tested on real users in real kitchens.
I hate to press pause all the time because I can't keep up the pace of a video tutorial
Outcome
Testers reported they felt more in control, less rushed, and more willing to try unfamiliar recipes. The intelligent timer alone cut reported "I burned it" moments nearly in half. Let's Cook became a case study in how thoughtful UX can make a deeply human ritual feel supported — never replaced.
Features
72%
Learn a new recipe
every month
Users who tried Let's Cook reported cooking more confidently and exploring new dishes regularly.
Popular menus are promoted to the main page
Get and stock ingredients directly in-app
Order what you need without leaving the app
Browse features, save recipes, and track history
80%
Can't find the right ingredient
8 in 10 people interviewed struggled to locate a specific ingredient when cooking an unfamiliar recipe.
Augmented reality overlay highlights the exact shelf and aisle for every ingredient
Confirms item availability before you even leave home
Suggests approved alternatives when items are out of stock
Shopping list auto-populates directly from your chosen recipe
Each cooking phase gets its own countdown calibrated to the recipe
Monitors multiple stages at once — boil while you chop without missing a beat
Stage-specific guidance on heat levels, knife technique, and timing cues
Notifies you the moment it's time to move to the next cooking phase